Whale-watching in Baja California

SCOUT AND SPOUT: Family members watch from a boat as a gray whale seems to check them out minutes before deciding to approach. Tour guides say March visitors have about a one-in-three chance of petting whales on a boat trip.MARLA JO FISHER, The Orange County Register

WHEN TO GO: There are whales in the lagoon from late December to April. Males begin leaving the lagoon in February, females with calves in late March. Chances of a friendly encounter seem to be greatest in March, though they can theoretically happen any time.

(Editor's note: This article originally appeared in the autumn of 2006.)

8 a.m. San Ignacio, Baja California Sur, Mexico:This is it, I tell myself, as we board the van.

Either I will commune with a friendly whale today, or this is absolutely the last time I will make a grueling trek to this dusty little town and its lagoon in the middle of nowhere.

I have been down this axle-busting, rock-strewn dirt road once before, on the two-hour-each-way drive to the ocean. Then, we were following the legend of the friendly whales, who have been known to come up to boats and greet passengers during their sojourn here.

But that time we met no friendly whales. Yes, we saw lots of whales, spouting, swimming, even breaching as they arched their bodies into the air, but none of them approached our boat.

That disappointment kept me away from San Ignacio for 10 years, since it's possible to drive to another town, Guerrero Negro, closer to the U.S., where the trip to the lagoon from town is shorter and it's much less of an ordeal to go out and see the whales.

There are three lagoons off the Pacific Coast of Baja where you can see whales between December and April: Scammon's Lagoon at Guerrero Negro, San Ignacio and Bahia Magdalena farther south.

The leviathans come down here from the waters off Alaska, to mate and also to give birth and raise their calves for the first few months, because the water is warmer and also because the calves' main predators, great white sharks, don't enter the lagoons.

Whale watching in Baja has become a nearly annual pilgrimage for our family. Seeing the behemoths in their native lagoons is an ever-changing and always thrilling experience.

In the past, we have always visited in early February, when the maximum number of whales are present. Soon afterward, the males start leaving, on their trip back northward to Alaska.

After some disappointments, I had begun to believe my chances of having an encounter with a friendly whale were the same as meeting E.T.

But, "No, no, no," some new friends who are knowledgeable about whales chided me about my timing.

"You have to go to San Ignacio in March, not February."

In March, the sometimes cantankerous bull whales have left the lagoon, while the newborn calves have grown bigger and stronger. Their mothers are more likely to let them come up to the boats and sniff around the humans like curious puppies. This theory has never been scientifically validated, though many people believe it's true.

SCOUT AND SPOUT: Family members watch from a boat as a gray whale seems to check them out minutes before deciding to approach. Tour guides say March visitors have about a one-in-three chance of petting whales on a boat trip. MARLA JO FISHER, The Orange County Register
EYE-CATCHING IMAGE: The author's daughter, Sandy Fisher, reaches out to pet the nose of a baby gray whale from a tour boat in San Ignacio Lagoon. PAUL FISHER, For the Orange County Register
WHALE SIGHTING: The author's family shrieks with delight as the first friendly whale swims up to the boat. From left are Michael Fisher, Elizabeth Lewin-Fisher, Mikeal Robinson (with camera) and Sarah Fisher. LAURA CHIARA, For the Orange County Register
Francisco Mayoral's front yard includes whale bones and a variety of sea shells at San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja, Mexico. By Daniel A. Anderson, The Orange County RegisterMarla Jo Fisher, Orange County Register
More Baja adventures: Swimming with sea lions off the coast of Loreto, Baja California Marla Jo Fisher, Orange County Register
More Baja adventures: Swimming with sea lions off the coast of Loreto, Baja California Marla Jo Fisher, Orange County Register
More Baja adventures: Swimming with sea lions off the coast of Loreto, Baja California Marla Jo Fisher, Orange County Register
More Baja adventures: Swimming with sea lions off the coast of Loreto, Baja California Marla Jo Fisher, Orange County Register
A TAIL OF A WHALE: A migrating California gray whale lifts its tail out of the water as it lazily swims in San Ignacio Lagoon. DANIEL A. ANDERSON, The Orange County Register
A LINK TO SPAIN: Because of its thick, stone walls, the Mission San Ignacio has changed little since construction was completed in 1786. FILE PHOTO: The New York Times
ARRIVING AT LOW TIDE: From left, Sarah Fisher, Mikeal Robinson, Michael Fisher (on shoulders) and Elizabeth Lewin-Fisher wade out about 200 yards into the chilly Pacific lagoon to reach the whale-watching boat. MARLA JO FISHER, The Orange County Register

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